As I write this, I am on board the Royal Caribbean cruise ship, “Navigator of the Seas.”  We decided to make a quick trip to Mexico’s Pacific coast since my wife has never been to Cabo or Mazatlán and neither of us has been to Ensenada before.  You can find literally thousands of cruise ship opportunities on this website.  Just click on the “Cruises” button on the landing page of this site.

We have sailed on Costa (now Carnival), Norwegian, MSC and now Royal Caribbean.  Each is different and unique in their own way and I will attempt to organize my thoughts and compare them to hopefully, help you (the reader make a more informed decision should you be thinking about a cruise in the near future.

First let me start by saying I personally do not care what cruise line I am on.  A cruise is by far the very best way to vacation and get away from the rest of the world.  We picked this particular cruise, partly because of its destinations, but also for its embarkation port in Los Angeles.  Instead of flying across the country west to east and being exhausted by the time we got on the ship, we only had to fly the two hours from Seattle to Los Angeles.  We did this the day before and stayed overnight at a hotel near the airport then took a Lyft to the port in San Pedro the next day to board the ship.  It was a very good decision.  We were alert and able to enjoy all that we wanted to without pushing ourselves to the brink of exhaustion.

At breakfast this morning, my wife summed up her observations like this.  She said Carnival is for those who like to party without spending a lot of money.  Royal Caribbean is geared toward families, and Norwegian is designed more for couple and relaxation.  That was her observation and mine, is a mirror image of hers.

The first cruise ship my wife and I ever took was a Norwegian out of Houston, to the western Caribbean.  Here’s what we noticed about Norwegian.

Norwegian offers a more laid-back and flexible cruising experience.  You can see this in their motto or manta, “Freestyle Cruising.”  Their ships are designed to help a person feel relaxed in every aspect, from dining to entertainment.  Everything seems to be more laid back and relaxing.  They tend to place a premium on being flexible and most importantly (for me) informal.

The Costa ship we went on was out of Venice, Italy and we found that they catered to the Eastern European communities.  Parts of it were difficult for me to like about Costa.  It was at about the same time they were recovering the Costa Concordia after its accident.  I think for me, the only real part of this trip that I did not enjoy was the food.  Food, as a spoiled American, is important to me.  I remember one evening, ordering Sea Bass for dinner.  I was good, once I got past how it was presented to me. 

Each cruise ship has their own specialty dining rooms or restaurants on board, where they generally serve an upgraded meal, but at an additional cost.  I don’t know if it is psychological for me or not, but it does seem I tend to get a little better quality of steak or larger prawns in the specialty restaurants than I do when I order the same thing in the dining room, or at the buffets.

Another cruise ship we have sailed on is the MSC Divina.  It was in the Caribbean, but we noticed it too seemed to cater to the Europeans.  It was a wonderful ship, but the food was also not what we expected.  It was good, but like one of our daughters said one time, “You know I don’t like eating anything unless I’ve tried it.”  Sometimes, it might not have been quite the same as we would eat, but it was still very good.  Especially the pizza in the buffet.  If and when we ate in the formal dining room, we were assigned the same table.  This did not matter whether we were the only ones in the dining room at the time.  Fortunately, of the two other couples assigned to the same table with us, one couple never showed up.  The one couple who did show up were from Sweeden and very nice.  We learned a lot about Scandinavian culture from them.

Now, as I mentioned, we are on Royal Caribbean.  This is the first time we’ve sailed on a Royal Caribbean.  It is nice.  The staterooms seem a little bit more roomy, mostly due to the way they are laid out.  The bathrooms are older, but the water pressure in the shower is great.  This ship was launched around 2004, but I’m sure has been updated over the years.  Unlike the other cruise ships we have sailed on, this cruise ship seems to be designed with our youth in mind.  There are as many children on board as there are adults.  I also read an article once that said one of the Royal Caribbean ships has the largest waterslide on the sea.  I know the Navigator of the Seas, which when launched was the largest cruise liner in the world, has a water slide, wave rider, laser tag, and a kid’s club where parent can drop their children off and the children are entertained by staff while their parents enjoy adult activities on board.

Going back to Norwegian, it is a cruise line  that can take you anywhere in the world.  We have cruised in the Caribbean and Mediterranean and investigated cruising to Alaska, Hawaii and even the South Pacific and South America.   Norwegian goes everywhere and tend to offer a more unique cruising experience and opportunities, which makes it the perfect choice for anybody looking to see and go places other cruise ships may not visit.

To sum up my thoughts on each, Costa is or was more European oriented.  The same with MSC.  The only differences between the two was the quality of ship, cleanliness and food.  MSC was also quite bit fancier and elegant compared to the Costa ship.  It was more of the stereotype or classic cruising I expected in the early days of luxury cruising.

Royal Caribbean is geared more for families and seems to cater to the whole-family experience.  It is great, but be prepared to trip over children running up and down the stairs or listening to them running up and down the passageways while you are trying to sleep.

In my opinion, Norwegian is the best as far as overall appearance, cleanliness, food and activities for adults anyway.  Like my wife said, they are geared more for couples, while Royal Caribbean focuses more on families.  MSC is more luxurious than the others while Costa, which has since sold to Carnival would be for those who are more budget conscious or want to party a little more than the rest of us.

I’m not even going to mention onboard entertainment.  All cruise ship are the same on this.  I’ve always said, there is a reason these entertainers are on cruise ships and not in Las Vegas, headlining their act.  We stopped going to these several years ago and found our time was better used walking around the ship, getting an ice cream cone or just going back to our stateroom and resting.

I hope this helps you understand a few of the difference between the cruise lines.  I doubt we will ever travel on any other ships, but Norwegian so I will not be able to give another comparison, but if we do, I will try to honestly evaluate it and let you know.

Happy travels.

Alan